The Susquehanna River (/ˌsʌskwəˈhænə/;
Lenape: Siskëwahane[6]) is a major
river located in the northeastern and mid-Atlantic
United States. At 444 miles (715 km) long,[7] it is the longest river on the
East Coast of the United States. It drains into the Chesapeake Bay. With its
watershed, it is the 16th-largest river in the United States,[8][9] and the longest river in the early 21st-century continental United States without commercial boat traffic.

Course

Both branches and the lower Susquehanna were part of important regional transportation corridors. The river was extensively used for
muscle-poweredferries,
boats, and
canal boat shipping of bulk goods in the brief decades before the
Pennsylvania Canal System was eclipsed by the coming of age of
steam-powered
railways. While the railroad industry has been less prevalent since the closures and mergers of the 1950s–1960s, a wide-ranging rail transportation infrastructure still operates along the river's shores.

Etymology

"Susquehanna" comes from the
Len'api (or Delaware Indian) term Sisa'we'hak'hanna, which means "Oyster River."[16] Oyster beds were widespread in the bay near the mouth of the river, which the Lenape farmed, leaving oyster shell
middens.[17]

The Len'api were a Native American people at Con'esto'ga ("Roof-place" or "town," modern Washington Boro, Lancaster County), also called Ka'ot'sch'ie'ra ("Place-crawfish," modern Chickisalunga, Lancaster County), or Gasch'guch'sa ("Great-fall-in-river," modern Conewago Falls, Lancaster County) as either Minquas ("quite different"), or Sisa'we'hak'hanna'lenno'wak ("Oyster-river-people").[18][citation needed] The Len'api also called the area Sisa'we'hak'hanna'unk ("Oyster-river-place").[19]

Peoples of the mid-Atlantic Coast included coastal peoples who spoke
Algonquian languages, such as the Len'api (whose bands spoke three dialects of Lenape), and
Iroquoian languages-speaking peoples of the interior, such as the Eroni and the Five Nations of the Iroquois.[20] The English of Pennsylvania referred to the Eroni people of Conestoga as "Susquehannocks" or "Susquehannock Indians," a name derived from the Lenape term.[20] In addition,
John Smith of Jamestown, Virginia, labeled their settlement as "Sasquesahanough" on his 1612 map when he explored the upper
Chesapeake Bay area.[21] In Virginia and other southern colonies,
Siouan-speaking tribes constituted a third major language family, with their peoples occupying much of the middle areas of the interior. Iroquoian speakers, such as the Cherokee and Tuscarora, generally occupied areas to the interior near the Piedmont and foothills.[22]

History

In the 1670s the Conestoga, or
Susquehannock people, succumbed to
Iroquois conquest by the powerful Five Nations based in present-day New York, and assimilated with them. In the aftermath, the Iroquois resettled some of the semi-tributary
Lenape in this area, as it was near the western boundary of the Lenape's former territory, known as
Lenapehoking.

In 1779 during the
American Revolutionary War, General
James Clinton led an expedition down the Susquehanna from its headwaters. His party had made the upper portion navigable by damming the river's source at
Otsego Lake, allowing the lake's level to rise, and then destroying the dam and flooding the river in order for his flotilla to travel for miles downstream.
James Fenimore Cooper described this event in the introduction to his historical novel, The Pioneers (1823).

At
Athens, Pennsylvania, then known as Tioga or "Tioga Point", Clinton met with General
John Sullivan and his forces, who had marched from
Easton, Pennsylvania. Together on August 29, they defeated the
Tories and warriors of allied Iroquois bands at the
Battle of Newtown (near present-day
Elmira, New York). This was part of what was known as the "Sullivan-Clinton Campaign" or the "
Sullivan Expedition". They swept through western New York, destroying more than 40 Seneca and other Iroquois villages, as well as the stores of crops the people set aside for winter. Many of the Iroquois left New York and went to Canada as refugees; casualties from exposure and starvation were high that winter.

Following the United States gaining independence in the Revolutionary War, in 1790 Colonel
Timothy Matlack,
Samuel Maclay and
John Adlum were commissioned by the
Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to survey the headwaters of the Susquehanna river. They were to explore a route for a passage to connect the
West Branch with the waters of the
Allegheny River, which flowed to Pittsburgh and the Ohio River.[23] In 1792, the
Union Canal was proposed in order to link the Susquehanna and the Delaware rivers in Pennsylvania along
Swatara and
Tulpehocken creeks. In the 19th century, many industrial centers developed along the Susquehanna, using its water power to drive mills and coal machinery, to cool machines, and as a waterway for the transport of raw and manufactured goods.

Pennsylvania and
Connecticut both claimed land from the colonial era in the
Wyoming Valley along the Susquehanna. Connecticut founded
Westmoreland County here and defended its claim in the
Pennamite Wars. Under federal arbitration, eventually the state ceded this territory to Pennsylvania.

In 1833 John B. Jervis began a canal system to extend the
Chenango River and connect the waters of the Susquehanna from Chenango Point to the
Erie Canal, which ran through the Mohawk Valley of New York, ultimately connecting with
Lake Erie through the Wood Canal. In October 1836, water from the Susquehanna was connected to the Erie Canal at
Utica, New York. Water travel was popular during that era, and the Erie Canal dramatically expanded trade between communities around the Great Lakes and markets in New York and Pennsylvania. With the expansion of construction of
railroad lines, canal-transport became unprofitable, as it could not compete in speed or flexibility.[24] Boats had to climb a net height of 1,009 feet between basins, requiring the use of more than 100
water locks, which were too expensive to be maintained under the new competition.[24]

The Susquehanna River figures in the history of the
Latter Day Saint movement. It holds that
Joseph Smith and
Oliver Cowdery received the priesthood from heavenly beings at a site along the Susquehanna and performed their first baptisms of Latter Day Saints in the North Branch of the river. Smith and Cowdery said that they were visited on May 15, 1829, by the resurrected
John the Baptist and given the
Aaronic priesthood. Following his visit, Smith and Cowdery baptized each other in the river. Later that year, they said they were visited near the river by the apostles
Peter,
James and
John. Both events took place in unspecified locations near the river's shore in
Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania.

In 1972 the remnants of
Hurricane Agnes stalled over the New York-Pennsylvania border, dropping as much as 20 inches (510 mm) of rain on the hilly lands. Much of that precipitation was received into the Susquehanna from its western tributaries, and the valley suffered disastrous flooding.
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, was among the hardest-hit communities and the capital Harrisburg was flooded. The
Chesapeake Bay received so much fresh water that it altered the ecosystem, killing much of the marine life that depended on saltwater.

The
Mid-Atlantic Flood of June 2006, caused by a stalled jet stream-driven storm system, affected portions of the river system. The worst affected area was
Binghamton, New York, where record-setting flood levels forced the evacuation of thousands of residents.

In September 2011 the Susquehanna River and its communities were hit by
Tropical Storm Lee, which caused the worst flooding since Agnes in 1972.

The Susquehanna River has played an important role in the
transportation history of the United States. Prior to the 1818 opening of the
Port Deposit Bridge, the river formed a barrier between the northern and southern states, as it could be crossed only by
ferry. The earliest dams were constructed to support ferry operations in low water. The presence of many rapids in the river meant that while commercial traffic could navigate down the river in the high waters of the spring thaws, nothing could move up.

Two different canal systems were constructed on the lower Susquehanna to bypass the rapids. The first was the
Susquehanna Canal, also called the Conowingo Canal or the Port Deposit Canal, completed in 1802 by a Maryland company known as the Proprietors of the Susquehanna Canal. The second was the much longer and more successful
Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal. The canals required additional dams to provide sufficient canal water and navigation pools.

As the industrial age progressed, bridges replaced ferries, and railroads replaced canals. The railroads were often constructed on top of the canal right-of-way along the river. Many canal remnants can be seen in
Havre de Grace, Maryland, along
US Route 15 in Pennsylvania, and in upstate New York at various locations. These latter remnants are parts of the upstream divisions of the
Pennsylvania Canal, of privately funded canals, and of canals in the New York system.

Most of the canals have been filled in or are partially preserved as a part of historical parks. Dams generally are used to generate power or to provide lakes for recreation.

Environmental threats

In March 2011, Crary Park in
Shickshinny, Pennsylvania, was inundated with a flood when the river rose above 27 feet at Wilkes-Barre.[29] Six months later, the town was devastated by a 42-foot record flood.[30]

It was designated as one of the
American Heritage Rivers in 1997.[33] The designation provides for technical assistance from federal agencies to state and local governments working in the Susquehanna watershed.

Another environmental concern is radioactivity released during the 1979
Three Mile Island accident.[34] However, extensive radionuclide studies over a 25-year period from 1979 through 2003, confirm that the Three Mile Island accident has not resulted in any harmful radiation effects.[35] The areas in and along a 262-km length of the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania were monitored for the presence of radioactive materials. This study began two months after the 1979 Three Mile Island (TMI) partial reactor meltdown; it spanned the next 25 years. Monitoring points included stations at the PPL Susquehanna and TMI nuclear power plants. Monthly gamma measurements documented concentrations of radionuclides from natural and anthropogenic sources. During this study, various series of gamma-emitting radionuclide concentration measurements were made in many general categories of animals, plants, and other inorganic matter, both within and near the river. Sampling began in 1979 before the first start-up of the PPL Susquehanna power plant. Although all species were not continuously monitored for the entire period, an extensive database was compiled. In 1986, the ongoing measurements detected fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear accident. These data may be used in support of dose or environmental transport calculations.

In 2015, a
smallmouth bass with a rare, cancerous tumor was caught from the river, raising renewed concerns about toxic materials and water pollution.[36][37] The
Environmental Protection Agency reported, "we do not have sufficient data at this time to scientifically support listing the main stem of the Susquehanna as
impaired."[36]

Recreation

The Susquehanna River has attracted boaters who watch or fish for its migratory species. Many tourists and local residents use the Susquehanna in the summer for recreation purposes such as kayaking, canoeing, and motor-boating. Due to the high volume of Smallmouth bass in the river, it is the host of numerous bass fishing tournaments each year and is regarded by many as one of the premier bass fishing rivers in North America. Canoe races are held annually on various sections of the river, such as the amateur race held in
Oneonta, New York.

Susquehanna rowing and paddling have a long history. Starting in 1874, rowers from
Shamokin Dam, Pennsylvania, raced men from
Sunbury. The General Clinton Canoe Regatta, a 70-mile flat-water race, takes place each year in
Bainbridge, New York, on
Memorial Day weekend. Binghamton University Crew and Hiawatha Island Boat Club are also located on the river, in the
Southern Tier of New York.